5th column: Book of Toth, Loki's Spear, Unicorn, The Stone of G??, Yata No??, Inuit R??posted by oh yeah! at 6:02 PM on January 5, 2015

"a town where fairy tales come to life"
A small town in Maine?

I think it's a reference to Once Upon a Time's Storybrooke, which is supposedly in Maine.

I really enjoyed this episode. Ezekiel really had a chance to shine. It was the first time he seemed like more than a prop. I liked watching how their hair and clothes kept subtly changing as their fairy tale characters developed. The background music was only nominally annoying.posted by the webmistress at 9:02 PM on January 5, 2015

That'd be the Singing Sword of Conaire Mór, a legendary Irish high king.posted by axiom at 9:41 PM on January 5, 2015

That's three in a row with Ezekiel being impacted interestingly by magical items. Santa's hat pushes him into mirth and counter-interested behavior, though he seems very aware of it in places. The Apple doesn't much change him at all because of his self-interest and now he's the trickster character - rather than being acted on/changed more explicitly - by virtue of that roguishness.posted by phearlez at 10:36 AM on January 6, 2015

I was going to add the webmisstress' linked recap to the sidebar then I noticed they dared to call Snickers inferior to Three Musketeers. I will not support such blasphemy.

I feel like Rogers is off his game. The barmaid should have had a nametag that said "Sarah C" if they were going to use that "come with me if you want to live" line.posted by phearlez at 10:53 AM on January 6, 2015

I kept waiting for the town musicians to show up. Unless they were in the background at some point and I missed it.

And I kept looking at the sheriff trying to figure out what role he was reminding me of until it clicked -- Morey! The lack of a hat and Sally Struthers threw me off.

I like the Leverage callbacks ("You're adorable."), but they also make me sad.posted by rewil at 11:24 AM on January 6, 2015

This was the first episode I've seen of this series. One question for you regulars...Are the special effects always this lame? That bit where Red Riding Hood is extracted from the Wolf's stomach was especially bad. I mean...Actress stands up from behind the table, and we just pretend she came out of the wolf? That's pretty bad.

Overall, though, it was an entertaining episode. I did, every once in awhile, kind of wonder when the Warehouse 13 gang was going to show up, though.posted by Thorzdad at 8:57 AM on January 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

It's lower budget than many, for sure, but I think a lot of the physical staging like that in this episode was done deliberately to emphasize the stories asserting themselves. The use of camera cuts when Elliot Jake has an owl on his arm, for example. So I felt like most of these sorts of moments were meant to emphasize the unreality accompanying the wolf they identified as too big and way too light.

I enjoyed the episode over all. When Rene Auberjonois showed up, that pretty much stopped cold any speculation on who was behind everything. The guy is too wonderful to not play a central role in whatever episode he's guest starring in. (For those who may not recall, he played Odo on Star trek: DS9 and a ginormous list of roles in other recognizable shows and movies).

I also liked Ezekiel's continual redemption that's been occurring through the show. It's also a nice touch that they do bother to work on their characters, rather than focus on the artifact of the week entirely. The fact that Jake still doesn't trust Cassandra was an interesting bit to just drop into the episode, more so when Jake's statement of distrust is preceded by, "I like you!....but,"

I do wonder if the selection of Cassandra as Prince Charming is supposed to telegraph something to us or if it was just entirely a joke. I.e., Cassandra is gay.posted by Atreides at 9:42 AM on January 13, 2015

Asked and answered in the questions post oh yeah! links.

I don't know 100% yet, to be honest. But we were very strict (and Lindy was excellent) in making sure she found it odd she was out of character, not distressed that she was being found attractive by/finding attractive the various female admirers.

Thanks for pushing me to click on the link. They also had this to say:

4.) Loved that flick. On the gender-bending -- it seems weasely to say "I don't know yet" on Cassandra, but that's where we are, honestly. It was for fun, true, but it was also important to show she was comfortable with it. Her sexuality hasn't been super-relevant to the stories so far, so we haven't bothered to come down hard on it one way or another, although I think everyone in the Writers Room has their own personal approach. One of the things I thought they handled very well on Warehouse 13 was Myka and H.G.'s relationship. That felt organically arrived at, and I'll admit a shade of disappointment it didn't play out into the full relationship the actor chemistry seemed to provide (and that's me as a writer-producer, not fan-me). BTW, why does everyone focus on Cassandra as Prince Charming and not Baird throwing her those big hug-me eyes?

Huh. I do think that the sexuality of any of the characters generally isn't relevant unless they want to make romance some part of the characterization for any of the characters. It doesn't really matter if Cassandra or Ezekiel or Jake were gay, it doesn't impact how they have been approaching these adventures (or I wouldn't think it would).posted by Atreides at 11:49 AM on January 13, 2015

I feel like the show really hit its stride in this episode. Probably the best one so far.posted by overglow at 7:46 PM on January 18, 2015

It was the best one so far! It was delightful.

Baird's hair and outfit changing as time went on (where did these heels come from?!) was a delight, as was Ezekiel's trickster-ish nature working out. He's never different, somehow, is he? Hmmm. "Of course I did, I'm awesome!" Who did it turn me into? ME!

Not sure why Cassandra turned into Prince Charming exactly (I kept thinking there must be some hot redheaded fairy tale girl--besides LRRH--story I was missing), but it was cute and hot.

I'm amused at the "which one is gay?" recurring questions on John Rogers's blog. If I was picking I'd say Ezekiel though, but I guess it's Jenkins in actual practice. I concur with Rogers that I wouldn't make it be Jake because that would seem a bit stereotypical.posted by jenfullmoon at 3:18 PM on January 6, 2019